|
DVD Formats
Explained
In short you need to find out 2 things about the DVD you want play:
1- What DVD ZONE or REGION (the same thing
just more confusion)?
The world is divided into 6 different zones or regions, look at this table
to find out what zone you live in.
| DVD Regional Codes |
| Code |
Where |
| 1 |
USA & Canada |
| 2 |
Europe, Japan, South Africa, Middle-East |
| 3 |
South East Asia |
| 4 |
Latin America & Australia |
| 5 |
Russia, Rest of Asia and Africa |
| 6 |
China |
2- Is the DVD “PAL” or “NTSC”?
You should find out if your player plays PAL or NTSC. In the US it is
usually only NTSC and in Europe usually most players will play BOTH Systems
(Multisystem).
What does this mean?
This means that movies from Region 1 (USA & Canada) WILL NOT play
on a DVD player regions 2-6. Effectively Region 1 discs play only on Region
1 DVD players, Region 2 discs play only on Region 2 DVD players and so
on.
Why are there 6 regions?
Movies are released on DVD at different times around the world, typically
America and Canada first, Australia and Japan 6 months later, and Europe
12 months after US release. In some instances, DVD movies are available
for purchase in America and Canada before they are released in European
cinemas.
Due to the high quality of DVD and the movie release system used by Hollywood,
5 regions were establish to prevent people from watching Region 1 movies
before they were released on Regions 2-6.
We now carry a DVD player that plays both (Multisystem) as a service to
our costumers.
The good news is that most Arabic DVDs are all zones or
all regions So you only have to worry about (are they Pal or NTSC)
|
